You're Fine
by MadFox32
Summary: Of all of the characters in AA, Apollo's had some of the roughest experiences. But he's got the best of friends to help him. This is a collection of fics about Apollo's friends encouraging him over time. Chronological order, spoilers everywhere. No romance, but lots and lots of fluff.
1. Clay

Hey guys! I'm starting a new series… So unlike me, right? But this one isn't going to be too long. I hope. This isn't a request fic, but feel free to recommend characters. Like I said, it's in chronological order according to Apollo's life crises. So to start off... I was thinking about starting in Apollo's childhood, but I kind of want to start at the beginning of AA. BTW, this story will have absolutely no romance. Even in the one with Ema... *sobs* So here you go! :D

I don't own Capcom. And I'm too tired to say something witty about that.

(O)

_**Dingdongdingdongdingdongdingdongdingdongdingdongdingdong**_

_Who the heck is ringing my doorbell in the middle of the night?! _

I rolled over to look at the clock, exhausted. 2am. And someone was ringing my doorbell. I picked up a tissue box from beside my bed and chucked it at the door. The doorbell ringing paused for a second, only to come back in at a faster, more annoying pace.

"Go away," I groaned loudly. The ringing continued. I plopped out of my bed and stomped to the door, swinging it open as angrily as possible.

"Hey, Apollo! Long time no see!"

"Clay. I saw you six hours ago."

"That was yesterday!"

"What are you doing at my apartment at 2 in the morning?!"

"There's a meteor shower tonight! I thought you should come with me."

"I had a really long day yesterday. I really want to sleep."

"23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds. Just like every other day of the year. The Earth doesn't slow down just because you have a bad day."

"It wasn't just a bad day."

"Come on, please come with me." He looked at me very seriously, and I rolled my eyes. I knew that if I argued, he would stand and ring the doorbell for 8 hours.

"Fine," I muttered. Clay's face lit up like a lightbulb, and he grabbed my wrist towards him. "Wait, I've got to get dressed."

"It's two in the morning! Nobody's going to laugh at you and your red footie pajamas except for me," he laughed. I glared at him, but eventually sighed, following him out the door.

(O)

"You awake?"

"Yeah." I stared up at the stars. Clay's "meteor shower" wasn't all that exciting. We were a decent half an hour away from Los Angeles, and the stars were clear enough, but none of them were falling. They were still pretty, though, but I still would've chosen to stay in bed.

"I'm sorry for what happened today."

"You don't know how it feels."

"Yeah, you're probably right. You were betrayed by the two people that you looked up to the most. That would be like Starbuck and Cosmos ending up as jerks."

"Cosmos already is a jerk."

"True. But he's kind of a nice jerk. Like deep down, I know he cares a lot about us."

"Deep, deep, deep, deep..."

"Yeah, pretty much. But you're right. That sucks."

"I don't even want to be a lawyer anymore."

"But that was your dream! You can't let a couple of jerks take that away from you."

"I wanted to defend innocent people, Clay. But the two people that I looked up to ended up being guiltier than anyone. My dream was never realistic."

"Look up."

"At what, the stars?"

"Yeah. Less than a century ago, people looked up into space, and they thought it was impossible to get there, and that the stars would always be beyond their reach. But look at us now. We wanted to go to space, so we worked as hard as we could to create a way to get there. But it took mathematicians, and engineers, and astrologists, and all kinds of other people to get there. On your own, you aren't going to just fly and make it to the stars. It's impossible. But impossible things become a reality once you can find a way to get there. You just need a team."

"I just lost a few of my team mates."

"You just need to find a new firm. One that isn't full of jerks."

"Nobody takes on rookies, Clay. The only person who would be halfway willing to take me would be Mr. Wright, and I wouldn't go back there if someone kidnapped me and dragged me there in a sack."

"Don't give up, Apollo. You're a lawyer now. You already achieved your dream."

"But now it's a nightmare!"

"Apollo... I know that you can do this. I know that it sucks. But look. The stars are right there. They aren't moving. You're already in space, and you've just got to stay there."

"Space hurts."

"Apollo... You're fine."

"No I'm not."

"You aren't right now, but you will be. You've just got to believe it."

"How?! If I'm in space, I must be on the Apollo 13. You know, the one where everyone ends up dying."

"You're fine."

"Clay... I don't want to do this anymore. Maybe I can get a job at the Space Center, cleaning the bathrooms or something. I just don't want to have to be surrounded by guilty people who want me to prove their innocence."

"There's a little innocence in everyone, I think. You just have to find it."

"Where's Kristoph's?" I spat. I felt a tear fall down my face, and I brushed it away furiously.

"You cared about him, Apollo. You didn't care about him for no reason. There's some good in there. You're fine." I let the words ring in my ears for a while, staring up at the sky. Suddenly, a light streaked across the sky, and Clay gasped. "Make a wish, Apollo."

"It's dumb to wish on a falling star. It's just a piece of space rock burning up. Just like your dreams."

"I think you need some of your problems to burn up with that space rock."

_I wish that this whole lawyer thing will work out. _

"Maybe."

"Apollo, you're fine. Just don't give up."

"Find me a law firm that takes rookies, and I'll be fine."

"Wright & co."

"Anywhere but there."

"I think that you need to defend yourself. Apollo, it's all going to work out ok, I swear. Someone will have to notice how amazing of a lawyer you are. The Beatles started out in shacks, you know."

"I'm not a singer."

"But you do have those chords of steel." Clay grinned. "I'M APOLLO JUSTICE AND I'M FINE!" he shouted.

"You aren't allowed to do that."

"Come on, defend yourself. Do what you do best."

"I'm Apollo Justice. And I'm not fine."

"You won't be if you keep that up! Come on."

"I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine."

"Come on, louder!"

"I'm Apollo Justice, and I'M FINE!"

"Louder."

"I'M APOLLO JUSTICE AND I'M FINE!"

"That's how you do it! Are you feeling better now?"

"A little."

"See? You're fine."

"Can I go home and sleep now?"

"We've got to see one more shooting star before we go. Just look at the spot where the last one was."

I looked up at the sky for a few minutes, and eventually turned to look at the fascinated expression on Clay's face. He smiled, and his eyes glittered with starlight. I looked back up, and mentally tried to draw dot-to-dot pictures with the points of light. I didn't know many constellations, after all. Eventually we gasped as a giant streak of light flew across the sky. I grinned.

"Did you make a wish?" he asked.

"I don't need to make a wish. I'm fine."

"Of course you are."


	2. Ema

Hey guys! The names that I'm planning on using (not in this order) are Trucy, Starbuck, Phoenix, Klavier, Ema, Vera, Athena, Juniper, Edgeworth, and Aura. If I missed any good ones, let me know.

Hmm… I'm going with Ema for this one. I will try very hard to keep my OTP out of this (Take a deep breath, Mad Fox… You can do this). Well, enjoy! :D

(O)

Trucy and I had investigated backstage for as long as we could. They still wouldn't let us leave the crime scene, though. Trucy entertained herself by wandering the stage, trying to discover the secret behind the magic trick from the concert. Ema and I were standing alone in Lamiroir's dressing room, looking around.

"It still smells like blood in here," she complained.

"That's what happens when someone gets shot," I retorted.

"I wish I could spray some air freshener in here, though. It might mess up the blood tests if I did, though." She looked around. "I'm hungry."

"The smell of blood makes you hungry?!" She rolled her eyes. "Don't you have Snackoos?"

"Snackoos don't exactly have much nutritional value." She stared at the bowl of fruit on the table.

"No. That's evidence."

"You're a lawyer. Do you find the fruit to be completely necessary to this crime?"

"Who knows? Maybe it has the killer's fingerprints on it."

"If I test it for prints, can I eat it?"

"No."

"But I'm hungry!"

"There's a vending machine out in the hallway."

"I need nutrition! I'll get scurvy and die!"

"You're fine, Ema." I stared across the room at the ladder.

"That ladder has completely screwed over your entire case."

"I know. I didn't need any help with that, though."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I feel like I'm not very good at this whole lawyer thing."

"But you've never lost a case!"

"Yeah, but I had a lot of help. On my first case, I wasn't really the defense attorney. I was more of Mr. Wright's microphone. And on the last case, Prosecutor Gavin practically had to hold my hand."

"I didn't see much hand holding."

"If he wasn't the prosecutor, I would've lost."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Why not?"

"Sure, he helped you in the end. But you'd already proven your client innocent in his mind, or he wouldn't have helped you. You did your job well. And I think that you would've found those contradictions anyways, even if you weren't quite as fast."

"I doubt that."

"Trucy might've staged another kidnapping," she replied with a grin. I blushed sheepishly.

"You knew about that?"

"You yelled at her for long enough afterwards. Your voice is ear shattering."

"Oh..." I blushed further. "Well, even a 15 year old girl had to hold my hand during the trial. She was doing a better job than me!"

"Yeah, she's a much better actor."

"That's not what I meant! In the trial, she was being more of a lawyer than I was."

"Apollo, you shouldn't doubt yourself just because you needed help. Mr. Wright got some help from a 15 year old girl in one of his first cases."

"Really? Who?"

"Me," she retorted. Apollo laughed.

"You? Since when did you help Mr. Wright?"

"Since my sister was accused of murder, and he needed some forensic science to solve a case."

"Well, Mr. Wright was supposed to be the lawyer. Of course he wouldn't specialize in forensics, and he'd need help with that."

"I guess I wasn't doing much lawyering, but I did a lot of crucial testifying. And I did help him with a few realizations about the case. Trucy specialized in magic at your last trial- you weren't going to make a gangster pop out of nowhere, were you?"

"No, thank goodness."

"What did Trucy tell you during that recess anyways?"

"Huh? Oh, she's good at telling when people lie. She told me that Stickler had a nervous habit that I should look for."

"See? That's not lawyering. That's her weird specialty."

"You aren't surprised by that?"

"I took a case with Mr. Wright. These kinds of things don't phase me much anymore." Her stomach growled loudly, and she looked up at me grumpily. "I need nutrition."

"Go out in the hall and get something from the vending machine."

"Have you seen those prices?! It's highway robbery!"

"Then eat your Snackoos." She stuffed the snacks in her mouth grumpily. "I'm still nervous for this case, though."

"You'll do great."

"But if the killer isn't Machi, who could it be?"

"I'm still betting on Machi."

"You're extremely helpful."

"Eh, I was betting on Wocky during the last trial. I'm not usually right about murderers."

"But if it wasn't Machi, it would have to be a Gavinner, right?"

"Or Lamiroir."

"I don't think that's the case."

"But the Gavinners all have a solid alibi. And none of them could have fit through that hole."

"Maybe the gun fired by itself?"

"Are you serious?!"

"I mean, what if there was a remote control on it? Or a string that could be pulled?"

"We would have found that on the gun."

"But it could've been burnt up or something."

"We would've found burnt fragments on the crime scene," she retorted. I dropped onto my knees. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for burnt fragments."

"Do you doubt my investigation?"

"You left the body alone with the defense attorney." I stood up before I had a very thorough look.

"A trustworthy defense attorney!" she protested.

"And Trucy. What did you call her earlier? A temptress?"

"It would take magic to change your stubborn mind."

"She IS a magician."

"Oh... Right."

"And I don't like waiting around at a crime scene with nothing to do but smell dead body."

"Hey, that might explain why my investigation might have been less than thorough! Maybe you could have checked for burnt fragments while you were waiting around smelling dead body."

"You told me I couldn't touch anything."

"I didn't tell you that you couldn't investigate."

"Investigating with Trucy generally means breaking things."

"Where is Trucy?"

"Investigating."

"If she breaks anything, I blame you."

"She likes to tell me that you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs."

"Yeah, she's definitely a Wright." She huffed, and stuffed a handful of Snackoos in her mouth, munching loudly. I stared at the ladder again.

"I hate ladders."

"Did Trucy scold you?"

"Huh? For what?"

"She insists that you call all ladders by their proper title."

"Oh, yeah. I really don't care whether it's a stepladder or not. You use it to climb things."

"Exactly. Mr. Wright started scolding me for calling a stepladder a ladder. I didn't know the difference, so I looked it up. He wasn't even pointing at a stepladder! It was just a normal ladder!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was just a normal wooden one. I think he was trying to out-science me, but it didn't work."

"Well, this one's actually a stepladder."

"As long as a little blind boy could climb up it."

"A little blind boy isn't going to climb up a ladder, especially not after possibly dislocating his shoulder. What if the killer hid in the crime scene, and escaped with the body as soon as me and Trucy left?"

"Where would they hide?"

"Under the couch, maybe. Or in a cabinet under the mirrors."

"The detective would've caught him! He wouldn't risk it!"

"Unless he knew you were in charge."

"Hey!" **Ka-tonk.**

"All right, I deserved that."

"I guess you're right. I don't know how Machi would get his hands on such a big gun. But do you really think that someone could hide in here?"

"Maybe. I wish I had better ideas. I'm not very good at this whole lawyer thing."

"Stop saying that! Nobody's got a better handle on this case than you do right now, not even Gavin."

"Gavin's more worried about how he screwed up his concert than how he's going to screw up his case. Once he gets his senses back, he'll cream me in court."

"I think you're going to do great, Apollo. And you'll probably come up with some better ideas once you've gotten some sleep. You've already done better at coming up with ideas than anyone else has."

"I'm not going to get any sleep before the trial tomorrow. It's 2 in the morning already."

"The trial's tomorrow?! But you've had almost no time to investigate!"

"Which is why I'm worried."

"It's all right. You'll do great."

"You keep saying that."

"Because I believe it. Come on Apollo, you can do this. Tomorrow you're going to prove that you don't need anybody's help to win a trial."

"I still don't quite believe that."

"You're a defense attorney! Defend yourself! Show some conclusive evidence that you know exactly what you're doing!"

"But I don't."

"Then bluff, like a true defense attorney!"

"I'd rather not."

"Well, when you don't have evidence, it's up to witness testimony, and I think I'll do great."

"Thanks Ema."

"Can I have that fruit now?"

"No."

"Can I still test it for fingerprints?"

"What would Gavin say?

"No."

"Then don't."

"Please?" I rolled my eyes, and pulled a $5 out of my wallet.

"Go buy yourself something from the vending machine."

"Thanks Apollo!"

"You're welcome." She darted out of the room, and I smiled.

_Maybe I really will do great tomorrow. _


	3. Klavier

Gosh guys. No, Ema wasn't just nice because she wanted Apollo's money. You're all buttfaces XD

But hmm. This one is going to be some mutual feels dumping between Klavier and Apollo after Kristoph lands in jail. Again. :D

(O)

What do you do after such a disastrous trial?

Trucy and Mr. Wright seemed happy enough. But I didn't. There was absolutely no point to the trial. Sure, Kristoph was found guilty, but he was already in jail. And he was my mentor. I had to turn against my teacher again, for no purpose.

Sure, Vera was innocent. But she had atroquinine. Nobody's ever survived of atroquinine poisoning.

"Hey, Polly! Let's go to Eldoon's!" An eager face grinned up at me.

"Not right now, Trucy. Maybe later. I don't know how much salt I can take right now." I pushed past her outside of the courthouse, and walked around to the back of the giant building. There was a bench around the back, and I sat down, staring across the weed-filled grass. The leaves on the trees were just beginning to turn colors, and the air was growing cooler. I thought about the winter to come, wondering what would come of it.

I tried to remember my old mentor, before everything that went wrong. He was kind, and serious, and seemed to keep my interests in mind. It was hard to believe that throughout that time, he was masking his murderous self.

I wondered about Vera—was she going to survive? She lived past the fifteen minute mark. But it was atroquinine. I remembered Kristoph's words—I was the one who caused her to bite her nails. I wasn't a defense attorney. I'm supposed to help her, but I led to her death.

"She's dead… And it's my fault," I breathed.

"She's not dead yet." I whipped around to find a blond prosecutor holding a guitar case.

"Can't you give me some kind of warning that you're there?!"

"Nein. When you're a rockstar, entrances are everything."

"That trial sucked."

"Ja, to put it bluntly."

"Everyone involved was guilty."

"Nein, not everyone."

"Ok, you weren't."

"Ach, I was guilty. I aided my brother in his schemes, though I didn't realize it. I meant you and the fraulein detective."

"Oh, I forgot about Ema."

"She isn't all that forgettable, in my opinion."

"It's just that she was actually helpful in this trial, unlike everyone else." Klavier chuckled. "What?"

"She's much more helpful to you than she is to me."

"Yeah. I'm not a fop." Klavier chuckled again.

"So, you're convinced that the fraulein forger is going to die?"

"Pretty much. And it's my fault."

"Don't listen to my brother."

"But it's true! I pressed her too hard."

"She was most likely more nervous about the crowd than she was about your questions. She would have gotten the poison one way or another without you."

"But-!"

"Nein. If there's anything that I've learned as a public icon, it's that you shouldn't let those who hate you define you. Listen to those who care about you."

"I don't know who really even cares about me anymore."

"Ach, you aren't the only one with that problem."

"Oh… Right. You lost your brother… And your best friend," I murmured. Klavier looked away for a moment.

"Ja. Trust is a fickle thing."

"I don't know what I'd do if my best friend ended up as a murderer." I thought about Clay's innocent smile, and shuddered.

"You have friends, Herr Forehead?" Klavier laughed.

"Yes," I scowled.

"I hope you don't mean the fraulein magician," he chuckled.

"No. His name's Clay. He's an astronaut."

"Ach, it must be nice to be able to soar above this dark age of the law."

"When did it start, exactly? With Mr. Wright's conviction?"

"Ja, that was part of it. But worse people had snuck their way into the courts than mere forgers. Everyone believed in Herr Wright as a source of hope for the innocent, and then those dreams were crushed. And then, another prosecutor was found guilty of murder only a year later, which was the last straw, I suppose. My bandmates and I were trying to make the courts popular again, in our own way…" He trailed off.

"I guess that didn't work out too well."

"Nein, we really only made it worse."

"Daryan really only made it worse. You didn't do anything."

"I trusted him. The two people that I held closest were the ones who destroyed everything."

"I trusted him, too. Kristoph, I mean. He wasn't my brother, but he took me in and taught me everything about the law."

"Herr Wright taught you some too, did he not?"

"I guess. Really, I think it was you who took over my training, in a weird way. I still don't know everything I need to know, but I'm getting there."

"Ja, you were pretty quiet when we were discussing what the law really is."

"I don't know. You said that the law is continually changing… But to me, it never did. It's just a way to find the truth. But I didn't have the experience to say that, I guess. It means something different to you and the judge, and you're both more experienced."

"It's constantly revolving around the same idea. The Earth changes positions, but it's always about the same distance from the Sun. Likewise, the law will always move, but it will always revolve around the truth."

"The Earth never gets closer to the sun, though."

"Ja. It's never easy to uncover lies, no matter what the law looks like."

"Then why do we bother changing the law at all? If the Earth stopped moving, it would be pulled towards the sun pretty quickly."

"You know a bit about space."

"My best friend's an astronaut."

"Ja, I forgot. If the Earth stops moving, it will burn to a crisp."

"Are you saying that if all the truth was revealed at once there would be chaos?"

"Nein. That would be true, but that wasn't what I was getting at. You saw my brother. If the law doesn't continually change, people will find loopholes, like him. As soon as he stopped changing with the law, the loopholes that once would have saved him became his noose."

"But if it moves too fast, the Earth would go hurling across space."

"Ja. We would move further from the truth because we wouldn't understand the law."

"Huh. I guess that makes sense." I stared across the grass. "I still wish that Kristoph hadn't been looking for loopholes to begin with."

"It's the dark age of the law, ja? Everyone needs to look for loopholes. If you ignore their presence, they will hang you. "

"Cheerful."

"Ja. There are some good lawyers out there." He seemed wistful.

"You're a good one."

"I had a good teacher."

"I did too," I replied, smiling at him slightly.

"I suppose you aren't speaking of my brother." He looked down at his guitar case.

"Stop calling him your brother."

"We're related, ja?"

"I never had a real blood family. But family is the group of people who will always be there for you. I feel like the agency is my family, in a way. The only thing that you have in common with Kristoph is your genetics."

"He wasn't always like this. He used to care."

"I know. But he died to himself seven years ago. He's not your brother anymore."

"I wish I could get rid of him that easily, but the media is all over this case. Reporters have been asking questions all day." He looked back at the building. "That's why I came back here."

"You shouldn't let the people who don't care about you define you," I reminded him.

"It's still a question of who cares. You're lucky. You do have some who care. You have the fraulein magician, the fraulein detective, Herr Astronaut, and Herr Wright."

"What about you? You have your other bandmates. And your parents."

"Me and my other bandmates weren't all that close. They suspect that I helped you jail Daryan because I wanted more control over the band."

"No way…!"

"Ja. We will probably have to break up soon, not that I'm all that opposed to it. The band really ended with Daryan's conviction. And as for my parents… We don't have the greatest relationship." _This is not a piece of testimony that I should press, unless I want a really awful penalty. _

"I care about you." He looked at me, somewhat shocked, and I felt a bit uncomfortable. "I mean, we aren't like best friends or anything, but if I didn't care about you, I wouldn't be talking with you. And you've got Trucy, too. And I'm pretty sure that deep down, Ema cares about you too. You aren't alone. You just cleaned out your friend closet and left enough room for real friends."

"I suppose. "

"Find the people who like you because you care about the truth, and those will be your true friends."

"Hey! What are y'all doin' back here?! The action's out front!" The two looked at the angered woman. _Stupid paparazzi. _

"Avoiding cameras," I retorted. "And you?"

"I had the feelin' that I could get a real nice scoop out here! And look here! I was right!" Her accent was thicker than Klavier's, and a lot less suave sounding.

"Fraulein, the two of us were simply chatting away from the public eye. It has been a long day for the both of us, nein?"

"I'll tell you what. If y'all answer a couple of questions, I'll make sure that nobody else bothers you."

"I'll agree if you let us see the article before it's published, and we won't have to answer anything that we don't want to," Klavier replied.

"You Yanks and your distrustin' nature! I was gonna let y'all do that anyway! I can be a lil' mean, but I ain't evil or nothin'!"

"Ok. What are your questions?"

"What's yer opinion on this here trial?"

"Well, I thought it ended badly. Kristoph was my mentor, and it hurt to have to put him in jail, even though I knew that he was guilty. Plus, Vera's still in the hospital, and it's unlikely that she'll make it out."

"I agree with Herr For-Justice. It was a rough turnout."

"He's got strange hair, but I wouldn't say he's got hair fer justice," she retorted, scribbling in a notebook. "What do y'all think Vera's gonna do if she wakes up?"

"I don't know. She'll probably paint, I'd guess, now that she knows that forgery is illegal."

"Ja. I do hope she'll make it out of the hospital. She's got quite the gift for art."

"All right. Can you talk about the killer?"

"I'd rather not, fraulein."

"Yeah, me neither. He was my mentor, after all."

"Aww. I wanted to hear that. Well, I've got one more. Are y'all rivals or friends or what?"

"The two of us?"

"Yeah," she replied. We looked at each other for a minute.

"Ach, I'd say friends at this point."

"Me too."

(A/N: Oh Lotta, how I love you XD)


	4. Vera

Ooh, Vera. This should be fun. This will be before The Monstrous Turnabout. :D

Not as agonizing as some of the other ones. This one's actually really funny lol.

(O)

You would think that after being in a high profile case like Vera's that people would be begging you to defend them. This was not the case. It had been over 5 months since I'd had a murder case. Sure, I'd taken a few odd jobs, and I'd had one good larceny case, but I wanted to solve a real case. The problem with being a rookie is that nobody hires you since you have no experience, so you can never get experience. I hadn't lost a case in a year, but I still wasn't getting many defense requests.

Today, I had a halfway interesting case, though. Apparently a painting had been stolen, and the police suspected Vera. I was quick to jump to her defense, and she was quick to respond. I'd spent all day yesterday investigating, and I'd found the painting hidden above the ceiling of the museum it was stolen from, completely covered in the janitor's fingerprints. You'd think a janitor would wear gloves.

"I believe that I'm ready to render my verdict. Are there any objections from the prosecution?"

"Ja, I do have a question for the defense. How did you manage to find that painting above the ceiling? It's twenty feet up, and the ladder that the janitor had used was put away."

"Err… Well…"

"Oh, I found it! Well, actually Polly found it, but it was because of me." Trucy explained. "See, Polly's really scared of heights, and-"

"OBJECTION! This story is not relevant to the case!"

"OBJECTION! Herr Judge, the defense is awfully eager not to share this story with the court. I believe that we have the right to hear it, or you might give a premature verdict." Prosecutor Gavin grinned. _Who told him about this?! If it was Ema, I'm going to…_

"Objection sustained. We have a right to hear this story. Continue, Miss Wright."

"Hehe! So Polly's really scared of heights, so I thought that he should go up in the ceiling to check for the painting. He told me that nothing was going to be up there, and I agreed, but I wanted to see Polly freak out, since it's really funny."

"OBJECTION! This is an inaccurate portrayal of the defense's character!"

"Objection overruled. Please continue."

"Well, Ema said that we would need a ladder, and we ended up finding a rope ladder. Polly was terrified of it, but I insisted that he go up. And Ema started making fun of him for being a coward, so he finally climbed up it. So he got up into the ceiling after he removed a few boards, and used his phone as a flashlight to look around. Me and Ema pulled the rope ladder down, and Apollo started yelling at us, and totally freaking out. So he started wandering on top of the ceiling, and he yelled that he found something. Well, neither of us believed him, so we just started laughing, and he started freaking out some more. Finally, Ema attached the rope ladder again, and I went up into the ceiling with him. He was actually holding the painting! I was pretty surprised that he made himself useful, considering how much of a baby he was being. Well, we managed to get it back down by tying my scarf around it by lowering it with a rope that I had with me as a magic prop. Well, after we did, Polly tripped, and his foot crashed through the ceiling, and his leg was wiggling. Ema started laughing really hard, and I had to help Polly get himself out of the floorboards. So I went down the ladder first, and then when Polly followed, he took like ten minutes, so I shook the ropes once he was near the bottom, and he started screaming. Turns out that Ema got the whole thing on video, too!"

"OBJECTION! Herr Judge, this is a very crucial piece of evidence. I suggest that it be shown to the court."

"Hmm. I don't believe that it is crucial to the case at hand, but I would like the detective to show it to me after I render my verdict, to… Help me make sure that my decision was a good one."

"Oh, it's on Youtube, your honor!" Trucy exclaimed.

"You tube? That sounds painful."

"Oh, it's a website that lets you watch videos."

"Like a spider web?"

"Kind of, but for computers."

"A computer? What kind of new fangled device is that?!"

"Your Honor, I request that you render your verdict. Now. Please." I begged, my face burning.

"All right, I will respect the defense's request. Prosecutor, it is your responsibility to show me how to tube myself on the spider web."

"It's my honor, Herr Judge." Klavier grinned slyly.

"All right then. I declare the defendant, Vera Misham…"

**NOT GUILTY. **

(O)

I ducked inside the bathroom as soon as the trial ended to try and spare myself from any more embarrassment. Luckily, most of the people who would make fun of me were girls, and I only had to watch out for Prosecutor Gavin.

It wasn't long until I realized that there weren't any urinals.

I tried to escape as stealthily as possible, and I sighed in relief as I saw that nobody was staring at me. I turned towards the right bathroom, only to find myself face to face with Vera.

"Why were you in the girl's restroom?" She asked. She took out her sketchbook and scribbled a confused looking face.

"I got a little lost," I mumbled, my face extremely red. I really wanted to disappear just then.

"Oh. Thank you, Mr. Justice. You saved me… Again." This time, a smile appeared on her piece of paper.

"That's no problem. You were innocent." _Thank goodness she changed the subject._

"Nobody believed in me except for you, though. I wanted to say thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I'm sorry everyone was teasing you."

"That's okay. It happens a lot."

"I don't understand why, though. There must be other people to tease. You're better than a lot of them, I think."

"Thanks… I don't get why everyone makes fun of me, really. But it's ok, I've gotten used to it, trust me."

"Huh. Well, you should know that I think you're a lot better than how they treat you. Thank you for your defense today."

"Thanks, Vera. I'm glad you were found innocent."

"Oh yes. How much do I need to pay you?"

"Most lawyers around here get 100 dollars an hour, but whatever works for you."

"You're better than most lawyers." She smiled, and pulled out her purse. She scribbled on a check, and handed it to me.

"F-Five thousand?! Are you serious?! I… I can't take this much from you."

"Don't worry, Mr. Justice. My father has a lot of money in the bank due to the forgery business. And I want to repay you for all that you had to go through for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." She scribbled a grin on her piece of paper. "Thank you, Mr. Justice. There's no lawyer I'd rather have."

"Thanks, Vera. I'm glad I could help you out."

"I am too." She ripped a picture out of her sketchbook and handed it to me. On it I found a picture of me with a bright grin. When I looked up, she was gone, and I smiled.

I'd had worse cases, to be sure.


	5. Trucy

Hehe. Another chapter of Emo-pollo! This time it's with Trucy, so it'll be great. This shouldn't be depressing, since it's Trucy. I'm trying to use up as many characters as possible before Clay's death, where there will probably be a character dump and feels and tears.

This has a bit of headcanon… I've always found it suspicious that Apollo turns from being bitter towards Mr. Wright in AJ to being best friends with him. Bitter feelings about him are everywhere.

Well enjoy!

(O)

After they left, I sat and pouted on the couch for a few minutes. Why couldn't I get to go with Phoenix on his first trial in 8 years?! It had been a dream of mine since childhood to get to watch one of his trials, and sitting next to him as his co-counsel would be incredible. But nope, it went to the rookie.

It wasn't that I disliked Athena. It was just that I thought that I deserved this chance.

"Hey Polly."

"Oh… Hey, Trucy."

"You're pretty mad that Daddy chose Athena instead of you, huh?"

"No! I mean, not really mad… Just disappointed."

"Daddy wasn't being very smart about that. I mean, he could've taken both of you. I can look for potential clients!"

"… Given the way you introduced me to the agency, I don't really blame him."

"Hey! I just didn't want to be boring, like you. Well, he probably wanted to get to know Athena a little better."

"When I was new, he didn't really want to get to know me better. Why's Athena so special?"

"Well, he watched all of your trials. I think he was a lot sneakier with his spying when he was around you. Plus, I think being around you reminded him of his days as a lawyer. He might've been jealous."

"I guess. I still wish I could think of a reason why he would prefer her over me."

"You can tell when he's lying without being obvious about it. He's the king of bluffing!"

"That's not a very legitimate reason."

"Hmph. You're no fun. Come on, we should get out of the office. It's so boring in here."

"But Mr. Wright said that I needed to-"

"Clean the toilet, watch for clients, and watch me? Well, I cleaned the toilet since you seemed upset, and you can put a note with your phone number on the door that says we're out for lunch."

"You cleaned the toilet for me?"

"Yep. It wasn't exactly dirty, considering how much Daddy makes everyone clean it."

"Why is he so obsessed with the toilet, anyways?!"

"Well, I told him once that you can tell a lot about a restaurant by how its bathrooms look."

"This isn't a restaurant."

"We serve justice on a silver platter!"

"So that's why you're always threatening my wellbeing."

(O)

"Trucy, where are we going?" I shouted at her from my bike. We were headed towards… Eldoon's?

"You'll see!"

"We had better not be going to the aquarium to spy."

"Aww, you're no fun. That wasn't my plan, though. That's too predictable."

"I don't like the sound of this."

"Come on, Polly! It'll be fun!"

"How far is it?"

"It's not too far. Maybe three or four miles. It won't take us more than 15 minutes."

I followed her for a while. She was going slower than I was used to, which wasn't strange, considering how often I biked. The fact that she was wearing a cape probably didn't help. I imagined it getting stuck in her wheel, and I winced. "You should take your cape off. It could get caught on your wheel." She shrugged, and stuffed the end of the cape under her butt. It looked uncomfortable, but it was a lot safer.

"We're almost here!" _That's a lot of trees. _

"Gorge Lake? That's not a great name."

"It's gourd. Like the weird vegetables you see at Thanksgiving that nobody actually likes."

"… Gourd Lake?!"

"I thought you'd recognize it."

"It's just like in Mr. Wright's 4th trial!"

"You were obsessed with him as a kid, weren't you?"

"Obsessed is a bit much."

"Who was the victim in this murder?"

"Robert Hammond. The killer was Yanni Yogi, who was taking directions from Manfred von Karma."

"I'd call that obsessed."

"Whatever."

"Do you want to rent a boat?"

"Have you killed anyone recently?"

"Nope. And the only gun I have on me shoots bullets."

"The cat?"

"No, real bullets. Except that I took all the bullets out and replaced them with water balloons."

"Wouldn't those just explode inside the gun?"

"Oh, so _THAT'S _why it didn't work."

"What happened to your common sense?"

"Huh. Maybe it got stolen. By a burglar!"

"I find that extremely unlikely."

"You're no fun." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Hey, that's the caretaker's shack!"

"Polly, you might not want to ride your bike on sand. You might fall over."

"Err… Sorry. I got excited. Do you think we can go inside?"

"No, but we can check out the front, where the murder happened. Apparently they never bleached the sand, so there's a spot where it's pink."

"I feel like that's illegal somehow, but I really want to see it." I dropped my bike and stopped in front of the house. "It really is pink."

"See? Would I lie to you?"

"Yes."

"Aww, don't be that way. So, do you want to rent a boat?"

"I guess."

"Polly, are you still upset?" she asked as we climbed in the distressingly unsteady boat.

"Yeah. I haven't had any good cases recently, and I was looking forward to working with Mr. Wright."

"I felt the same way for a while."

"Huh?"

"After Vera's case, Daddy wouldn't let me help you anymore. He wanted me to do better in school. But I'm a magician! I don't need an A in history to succeed in life! Now that it's summer, I thought that he would let me help on a few cases… But he hasn't let me do any. I was really excited when I heard that I could investigate a real murder case, and they didn't even look at me. To Daddy, I'm still a little girl who needs to be babysat, I guess." I suddenly felt really bad about complaining.

"I didn't realize…"

"It's ok. You're a lawyer, and I'm a magician. If I had to go for such a long time without getting to do a really good trick, I'd go crazy. I wish that I could help, but it's not the type of thing that I'm really passionate about."

"I wish I could tell you that you could be my partner for the next case I get, but your dad's the boss."

"Yeah, Athena's probably going to be your partner. Unless we went down to the detention center and found a desperate person who was accused of murder while she's busy with Daddy."

"Murder's a bit of a stretch. Maybe larceny or kidnapping, though."

"They usually catch the right people for those crimes, though. Well, except for Mask DeMasque."

"He actually stole the urn, though. He was just found innocent on accident."

"See? I told you you're obsessed."

"I'm not obsessed, I'm just… well researched."

"Sure, and I'm well researched in magic."

"I'm not opposed to flipping this boat over."

"Hehe, you just grabbed your bracelet. If that's not a nervous tic, I don't know what is! You've got your phone with you. A really old flip phone, too. Maybe I should flip the boat so you'll buy a new phone."

"Hey, it's better than your dad's."

"Well duh. Daddy has no friends to talk to!"

"No objections here."

"So, are you feeling a little better?"

"Yeah, a little. I want to talk to Mr. Wright, though."

"About putting us on a case?"

"Well… I need to talk to him about a lot of things. But that's included."

"Can I go with you?"

"Huh? Why?"

"I don't know. Daddy treats me like a little kid a lot of the time, and I think he might take me more seriously if you were there."

"It might help if you stopped calling him Daddy."

"It might, but I won't."

"Eh. There was no harm in asking."

"Yeah. Daddy's a good daddy… He's just a little oblivious sometimes. I like hanging out with you, though. You make me feel important."

"I'm glad. You are important, Trucy."

"I'm only a little girl."

"You've got to hit the crowd with speed and ferocity, right? The younger you are, the more they'll be blown away. You just need an audience."

"Well, right now I've got an audience of one."

"Well, you've impressed me." She grinned, and leaned over to hug me. I was shocked to feel the warmth of her tears on my shoulder. I hadn't stopped to consider how much she'd been hurt by us ignoring her.

And then the boat tipped over.

When I found the surface again, Trucy was laughing. "Your spikes aren't spiky anymore."

"That's one way to hit the crowd with speed and ferocity," I laughed. She grabbed me around the waist again.

"Thanks Polly. You know, it's kind of funny that we're the ones that got wet even though we didn't go to the aquarium."

"Huh, you're right."

"I think I had a better time than I would have if I'd gone to the aquarium, though."

"You know, I don't wish that I'd gone to the aquarium, either," I smiled warmly. "I got to defend someone much more important."

"Defend?"

"Yeah. There's been a lot of baseless accusations hurled at you."

"Huh. They seem less important now."

"See? I always get Not Guilty verdicts," I bragged. Trucy giggled.

"Not without help."


	6. Phoenix

Four more chapters after this one! I've got Starbuck, Athena, Juniper, and Aura (Yes, I took out Edgeworth. I couldn't find a way to make it work- I'M SORRY). I was planning on having Phoenix be the last chapter, since I've been building up tension, but I think I'm just going to roll with him now, or the part with Clay is gonna be waaaaaaay too long. :)

So I have two ideas of stories to do when I finish this one- should I write some Justiskye, or a FF based on what the heck Trucy was doing in DD? I'll get to the other eventually, so don't think that if you choose one fossil the other one will be sucked into the quicksand forever in true pokemon style XD

Well, enjoy! :)

(O)

"You did great leading the defense, Athena, especially considering it was your first time."

"Thanks! I'll bet I did way better than you did in your first trial!" She flashed her typical peace sign and grinned.

"Oh, trust me, you did." I tried not to wince, but I mostly failed.

"What happened in your first trial?" Her teasing grin faded into a look of concern.

"It… It just was a really awful trial. I don't want to talk about it."

_**"Woah! Talk about an emotional spike!" **_Widget beeped. Athena cringed.

"Sorry… You seem really upset. And angry."

"Yeah… It's not something I can really talk about."

"Why not? Is it just really hard to talk about it?"

"Athena…" I looked up at her with pleading eyes. "I really can't talk about this."

"…Ok. Sorry."

"It's all right… It isn't you." She walked up to Mr. Wright and spoke with him quietly, and he had about the same reaction as I did. Athena left the office, obviously concerned.

"She's going to figure out eventually," I commented darkly.

"I know she will. I… I just…" Phoenix stared at the wall blankly.

"Don't want her to think about you differently? Because the past is the past?" I grumbled.

"Something like that." I looked towards the floor. That trial haunted me to this day—I was forced by my childhood hero to present forged evidence to convict my own mentor of murder. "I'm lucky I didn't take that last case," he commented, interrupting my chain of thought.

"Why?"

"Because I can't say with absolute certainty that the end is only justified through proper means. True, you managed to succeed using legal methods... But what if keeping the law will result in the truth being lost forever?"

"You could have convicted Gavin without the forgery... I know you could have!"

"If there was a possibility, even a small one, don't you think I would have taken it?" He asked. I didn't reply, but continued to glare at the floor. "About seven years ago, Prosecutor Edgeworth told me a story of his time working alongside interpol."

"Like Romein Le Touse Interpol?"

"Yes. Prosecutor Edgeworth was trying to take down a smuggling ring. He discovered the culprit and some decisive evidence to prove it, but the evidence was illegal. He said that it was the hardest decision he'd ever made. Apollo, what is the job of an attorney?"

"To find the truth."

"Exactly. But Edgeworth was forced between picking the truth or the law. The law was designed to find the truth. But when people abuse the limitations of the law for their personal gain, the law isn't working to find the truth anymore. He told me that he chose the truth, and used the illegal evidence to convict Alba. Apollo, do you think we found anything but the truth in that trial?"

"No, but... It wasn't right!"

"Apollo... When someone steps outside of the law, they leave us trapped within its limits. When Kristoph murdered Mr. Enigmar, he stepped outside of its limitations, and he left the evidence to convict him outside of our reach."

"So you had to step outside of it. But you can't live like that. You see what it did to Professor Means. I'll bet he started out doing exactly what you did- recreating evidence that he was positive existed, and then it became more and more until the dark age of the law destroyed him. I don't want to have to rely on lies to find the truth! And I thought you were the same way. I thought you were the one who brought justice back into the world! Who stood up for what was right, no matter what!" There was a moment of silence as my glare threatened to freeze the floor.

"What was right, Apollo? Convicting a murderer or letting an innocent person take the blame?"

"Mr. Wright... You wanted to take revenge on Kristoph, didn't you? Because he took away your badge? That's why you would have forged evidence. You needed to convict Kristoph, not just a murderer."

"Apollo... I don't know who you think I am, but I really did want to find the truth. Kristoph was my friend- he stood up for me when nobody else would. Did you think that you were the only person who was hurt to see Kristoph's true nature?"

"N-no! I never said that..!"

"Apollo, I want you to be able to trust me. I know you don't agree with everything I've done, but we have the same goals in mind- to find the truth." My bracelet hadn't tightened, and I wanted to believe in him. I could feel tears gathering in the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let myself cry.

"I..."

"Apollo, I'm sorry." I jumped. _Did he just apologize?!_

"Y-you're sorry?"

"Yes. I shouldn't have manipulated you like that. It was wrong. I can't truthfully say that I'm sorry for breaking the law, but I am sorry for hurting you like I did. I had no idea that I hurt you so much."

"I ran away for two months."

"I thought that when you came back you'd forgiven me, to be honest," he replied sheepishly.

"You lied about there being an emergency. I thought you were dying! That's the only reason I came."

"I did fly 30 feet into a telephone pole... And I did get you your first case in months when you came."

"I guess. But 30 feet is nothing to you. You could fall off a cliff and be fine."

"Well, not fine. I did get a nasty fever from the river water."

"... You've actually fallen off a cliff?"

"Yep. It was what, 50, 60 feet? I was trying to cross a bridge to stop a murderer from getting to a friend of mine."

"You always did have to make murders more dramatic, didn't you?"

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you cross-examine a parrot?"

"Oh, Polly. Yeah, I did."

"Don't you get started on that, too."

"Hmm? Oh, no. The parrot's name was Polly. Although she was actually one of the most dependable witnesses I've ever had." I couldn't help but laugh, remembering videos that I had picked up freshman year that showed Mr. Wright pressing a ridiculous guy named Harry Butz, an assassin, and a circus clown. This was the Mr. Wright that I'd always looked up to- and he was standing in front of me, grinning.

"I... I forgive you. For everything," I replied abruptly. Mr. Wright's eyes widened. "You... I don't agree with what you did, but you aren't a different person now than who I used to look up to. You're the lawyer who's willing to do crazy things for the truth... And even if I'd argue that you went too far, you were still fighting for the truth." He smiled- not one of his "I'm hiding some important information from you" smiles or a "we're screwed but lawyers never smile until it's all over" smiles, but a genuine grin.

"I'm glad." He looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "I have one other thing to apologize for, though."

"What's that?" I couldn't think of anything else that I was mad at him for.

"I've been avoiding taking cases with you... I thought you didn't want to spend the time around me. So I'm sorry if Athena's had more than her fair share of trials recently... It's my fault."

"That's ok," I replied with a smile, remembering my rant to Trucy from a few months ago. "So I can have the next one?"

"Sure, no one's stopping you," he said with a grin. He held out his arms, and I gave him an awkward hug. I wasn't as much of a huggy kind of person as Mr. Wright seemed to be. After I awkwardly let go of him, he headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" He answered my question by swinging open the door to reveal an embarrassed Athena.

"Athena, were you crying?" I asked, a smirk growing on my face.

"N-no! I just had a... Uh..."

"**_She was sobbing her eyes out!"_**Widget beeped. As if I needed Widget to tell that Athena was lying.

"Come on in, Athena. We're done now," Phoenix reassured her. She stepped in cautiously, much like a cat exploring the unknown.

"Every time Apollo talked to you, he always had so much sadness... I guess I can see why. But... You? Forge evidence?"

"... Yeah, I did. The killer removed a piece of evidence from the crime scene, so I recreated it. Without that piece of evidence, I would probably be on death row about now," he mused. "But that's not why I did it."

"Because you thought that justice was more important than the law?"

"I did. I hope you guys understand... I don't plan on trying that ever again. I've got you two, after all."

"No criminal will be able to get past us!" Athena added enthusiastically.

"So you aren't angry?" Phoenix asked her, clearly surprised.

"No, not really. Professor Means used forged evidence to hide the truth, and so did all of the other forgers. Obviously it's not a good habit to have, but I still think you stand out in the dark age of the law. You're the light of truth, and we're gonna be there with you!"

"Even the brightest lights flicker sometimes," I added. I think I was beginning to believe it, too.

"Thank you."

Suddenly, Phoenix felt less like my boss and more like my friend- a relationship I'd dreamed of for years but never thought could exist.

I really, truly trusted him.

(A/N: Apollo does get the next case... *sobs*)


	7. Starbuck

All I can say is… I'M SO SORRY. D:

(O)

"Mr. Wright? Do you have any ibuprofen?"

"Yeah. You need some?"

"Yeah… My chest hurts really bad. I have no idea why."

"Did you smack into something?" Athena asked.

"No, it feels more like a stabbing pain."

"Did you eat anything weird?"

"Just Trucy's cookies."

Trucy had just baked a batch of cookies, and suspiciously pulled them out of her magic panties. We had gathered on the messy red couches to eat them- everyone was so happy. It reminded me of the times that I went over to Clay's house on Christmas Eve and ate all of his dad's amazing Christmas cookies.

"Hey! There was nothing poisonous in them, I swear!"

"Huh. That's weird. Well, here's the ibuprofen." Phoenix tossed me the bottle, and I swallowed two pills with a glass of water. I joined Athena and Trucy on the couch, who were watching some report about a magician on the news.

"We have a breaking news story!"

"Aww, but what about Max Galactica?" Trucy whined.

"Shh! It could be a potential case!" Athena silenced her.

"Angela, can you tell us what happened?" The camera panned to a pretty blonde girl. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that she was standing in front of the Space Center.

"NO!" I yelled. Everyone looked at me strangely as I concentrated on the tv. "There was supposed to be a launch today… Did it fail?"

"It seems that there was a murder over in Lobby number 1. Unfortunately, that the spaceship launch will have to wait." _MURDER?! _"The accused is named Solomon Starbuck, a famous astronaut. If he is convicted, it will be unfortunate for us all-"

"No! Mr. Starbuck!" I jumped off the couch and swung open the door, and ran down the stairs as quickly as I could. _Mr. Starbuck didn't do it! _I hopped on my bike and pedaled for my life until I reached the detention center in record time.

"Can I talk to Mr. Starbuck?" I asked the woman at the front desk, panting heavily.

"He's almost done with questioning… I'd give it another ten minutes."

I collapsed on an uncomfortable chair and stared up at the ceiling. I heard The Guitar's Serenade coming from my pocket, so I picked up my phone.

"Apollo! Are you ok? Did you know that guy?" Athena asked.

"Mr. Starbuck… He's a good friend of mine."

"Well, he's not guilty then, huh? And you're going to prove it!"

"I'm more worried about who died. What if it was Director Cosmos, or Aura, or some little kid?"

"They apparently haven't released that information to the public yet."

"Argh! Can you call me if you get any new information?"

"Of course! You should do the same."

"All right." I hung up the phone, probably prematurely, but I really didn't want to talk to anyone besides Mr. Starbuck.

"They finished earlier than expected. You can go see him now if you like," the woman called from across the room.

I practically ran through the door into where I could find Mr. Starbuck. When I found him, he was a teary mess. "Mr. Starbuck!"

"A-Apollo?" Mr. Starbuck lifted his head. His eyes were red and puffy.

"I'm here to defend you, if you want that."

"There's no-one I'd like more. Do you… You don't know who died, do you?"

"No! Was it Cosmos? Or Aura? Or-"

"Apollo… I'm so sorry. It… It was Clay."

My vision suddenly pulsed, and the entire world felt surreal. Clay? Gone?

"That… That's not possible… Clay… He couldn't…"

"Apollo… I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not possible. Nobody could kill him. He's too nice… He's always looking out for everyone, always smiling…" I didn't feel sad… This had to be a joke. "And nobody could kill him… He wouldn't die easily! He's gone through all that physical training, and he... he was wearing a space suit, right?"

"Apollo… Clay is dead."

The pain in my chest suddenly exploded, and I tried to grab it, only to fail.

"No! He can't be!" I could feel reality hitting me like a ton of bricks, and tears began to flow down my face. _You'll never see Clay again. He's gone. He's dead._

_He'll never achieve his dreams._

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" I shouted. "He was so close… So close to getting to the moon! Just like we talked about!"

"I guess he's among the stars now, huh?"

"N-no! He can't… He can't! How? How did it happen? Why?!"

"I passed out before we could get on the space ship… When I woke up, Clay was next to me… And there was a knife in his chest."

"N-no. This can't be happening! It can't!"

"I'm so sorry." I tried to wrap my brain around it… But Clay was tied to every memory I had. A life without Clay…

"This can't be real." A life without Clay was impossible. That's it. This was just a nightmare. I was going to wake up and I was going to tell Clay about my dream and we were going to laugh about it, and we would be fine.

So why wasn't I waking up?

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tried to call him.

Beeep…. Beeeeep….. Beeeep….

"Hey, it's Clay! Sorry I can't pick up right now- I'll get back to you soon!" I slammed my phone on the ground as hard as I could. It didn't break, of course. Stupid Nokia.

"Please, Please tell me this is a joke. Please."

"Apollo… You're fine."

"Do I look fine?!"

"You have to believe it. What would Clay be yelling at you right now?"

"He'd scream 'you're fine!' until the windows exploded." Somehow answering this gave me some confidence.

"You have to be fine for him, Apollo."

"… I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine…" I burst out into tears. "I can't do this. I need him back. I need him."

"Apollo, I know you're going to be fine. Look at me." I stared into his eyes through the bulletproof glass.

"The moment you stop saying 'I'm fine' is the moment that he's truly dead. He's not dead, Apollo. He's alive inside of us—he's always going to be here for us, and he's never going to give up on us. His memory will live on forever."

"I'm fine." I took a deep breath. "At least, I'll try. So, what can you tell me about the day of the crime?"

"That's the kid I know. Haaaghhhh…. It wasn't the best day, honestly."

"I guessed."

"But I'm fine. And you're fine."

"We're fine."

This wasn't the time to cry. I could do that later. For now, I needed to be strong for Mr. Starbuck, and for Clay.

Right now, I needed to be fine.

(A/N: I know Apollo doesn't really seem as sad as it should be. But from personal experience, I know mood swings are extremely common when you lose someone close to you- the entire rest of this story will be an emotional roller coaster. The two day mark is usually when it finally hits you. Your brain can't grasp it on Day 1.)


	8. Juniper

Oh, wow. I haven't felt this good about a oneshot in a while. It's… Ahhhh. It's funny, it's sad, it's sweet, it has awful dramatic irony, it fills plot holes… I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do XD

Well, here's Juniper! :D

(O)

As soon as the defendant hall was empty, I buried my head into my bandaged hands.

I had one moment. One chance to escape. One chance to forget everything for a moment and to feel happy again.

I looked at my briefcase- it was a bit charred, but it was still in good enough condition to hold evidence.

Oh, right. Evidence. Athena asked me to give it to her… _If she forgot all the evidence, I can't help but worry about Juniper. _

I took out my phone and pressed 2, trying to remember who was assigned to which speed dial number.

_Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… "Hey, this is Clay! Sorry I'm not-"_

I canceled immediately, and took a deep breath. I really needed to cancel his speed dial, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it for another month or so. I pressed 3, hoping that I got the right person..

"_Hello?"_

"Hey Mr. Wright. Can you come in and help Athena? I'm not in good enough condition to defend…"

"_Apollo… Didn't I tell you that you didn't look so great today?"_

"Yeah… But I wanted to defend Juniper…"

"_I'll be right there."_ I closed the lid of my phone, and I looked around. A bomb technician stood in front of the door.

"Hey, are you a witness for this trial?"

"Yes," he replied in a robotic voice. _Yikes. That's one awful monotone. _

"Would you mind passing this evidence to the defense? I think Athena would be mad if I tried to go in there…"

"Certainly." He took the bag, and I saw the corner of his mouth twitch as if he were suppressing a smile. _I know that you're a bomb technician, but you seriously don't need to be that excited about a dumb remote switch. _I knew Athena might want that switch… After all, it had some suspicious looking fingerprints on it that didn't seem to belong to anyone related to the case. _Unless Fulbright forgot to wear gloves while transporting evidence… I wouldn't be surprised if those prints belonged to him. _

I glanced around the room. _Where did the bomb guy go? I don't think the bailiff called him to the stand yet. _Couldn't we just have a couple of normal witnesses once in a while, who didn't have binocular glasses and a robotic voice?

I sat there for about ten minutes until Mr. Wright walked in. "Hey, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I replied.

"Sure."

"Athena's not doing so great in there, from what I can hear. You should probably go in and help her."

"I will." He pressed his ear up against the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I have to make an entrance, Apollo. Plus, I have absolutely no idea what's going on," he replied sheepishly.

"Juniper's prints were on the bomb, and she has a motive that makes no sense."

"How did her prints get on the bomb?!"

"Don't ask me. She doesn't know, either. Plus, I don't even think it matters. The bomb was activated by a remote switch, so it doesn't mean anything that her prints weren't on it."

"…All right, it's about time for me to make my entrance."

"You're being way too dramatic for this," I laughed half-heartedly. "I don't think Juniper can handle the suspense. Or Athena, for that matter."

"Three… Two… One…" He swung the door open. "OBJECTION!" He yelled. I slapped my forehead. It was like he thought he was going to be on TV or something.

A few minutes later, Juniper emerged from the courtroom. "Oh… Hello Apollo."

"Hello, Juniper! How was the trial?"

"Oh, you couldn't hear it?"

"Barely."

"It… It was…" She broke out in a fit of coughing.

"Not great, huh?"

"I… I need my cough medicine…"

"Did you leave it out here?"

"No.. It was caught in the explosion." She coughed a few more times.

"Do you want to look for it?"

"Do you think we can find it?"

"We never know until we try," I replied.

"Oh… All right." She smiled slightly. We opened the door and headed into the courtroom. "Where should we look?"

"Huh. We could check the witness stand first, since there's less rubble over there. The explosion is pretty weird… Shouldn't the defense bench be completely destroyed? It seems like the ceiling took most of the blast."

"The bomb technician seemed to think that the bomb was special. Plus it was in the Phony Phanty… Would that make a difference?"

"I don't know much about bombs, really. Maybe this bomb was designed to explode upwards… Or the defense bench is just invincible," I laughed.

"Oh! There are columns, right? If those were blown up, the ceiling would probably fall, right?"

"I think you're right, actually. There's a few broken pillars… And the ceiling looks really heavy," I mused. "Well, your cough medicine isn't going to find itself." I bent down to move some rocks, and immediately felt spasms of pain through my arms. I winced.

"Are you ok?"

"I-I'm fine." I stood back up. "I might want to be more careful with my arms, though."

"I'm so sorry for everything that happened, Apollo…" she seemed so sad.

"It's all right, none of this was your fault."

"But you're hurting, I know you are. You were so close yesterday, to proving that Mr. Starbuck was innocent…"

"But if he's innocent, then who's the culprit?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't think of anyone who could have done it. Nobody would want to kill him. Nobody… Everyone at the Space Center is so nice, and everyone loved Clay."

"Maybe it was someone who wasn't from the Space Center, then."

"But why would they want to kill him?"

"Wasn't he going to the moon? Maybe someone was trying to stop him."

"But the Space ship had already exploded!"

"Maybe they were trying to make sure that the Space Center didn't try and send another rocket?"

"Then why would they kill Clay? What about Mr. Cosmos?! He was in the room, after all!"

"So then, who could it be?" I paused, unable to answer. "You seem like you have an idea."

"No, no I don't. It's awful. They probably weren't even at the Space Center that day…"

"Who?"

"I… I can't tell you. I… Argh!" I kicked a rock across the room.

"Is it Thena?"

"H-how did you know?"

"I can't think of anyone else that you wouldn't tell me about."

"I'm sorry, it's ridiculous…"

"Why do you think it's her?"

"Aren't you mad?"

"I trust you. I don't think Athena would kill your friend, but I know you wouldn't accuse her without a really good reason."

"You know about my bracelet, right?"

"I think so. You can tell when people are lying, right?"

"Yeah. Every time Athena talked about the murder weapon, my bracelet reacted. Eventually I just covered my eye so that I wouldn't have to feel her lies anymore…"

"Oh, Apollo… That must have been terrible."

"Why would she lie about the murder weapon?!"

"Maybe she remembered it from somewhere."

"Like where?"

"Well, she DID grow up in the Space Center… Maybe she remembers disassembling a robot when she wasn't allowed to, or something small like that."

"Wait… Athena grew up in the Space Center?!"

"Huh? Yes. Her mother and Aura were very good friends. Those knives have been around for… More than ten years, I would think."

"Wow, I never knew. Does that mean that she could have known Clay?"

"Yes, actually. I think I remember talking about a funny boy she met when we were kids."

"Why didn't she tell me?!"

"Huh? Did you ever tell her the name of your friend?"

"…No. I didn't."

"That's probably why."

"I… I just… The thought that Athena could have killed him…"

"Apollo… This must be so hard for you. I don't know what to say…"

"It's all right, don't worry. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Mostly," I replied sheepishly. "I'm starting to think that I'm not going to find your cough medicine," I mused. "I want to help you, but I can't do anything! I can't defend you, I can't find your medicine... I feel so useless. I couldn't defend Starbuck, and I couldn't save Clay, and I'm accusing Athena of murder… I feel like the worst friend in the world about now."

"Apollo, don't you see? I've stopped coughing already. You're the best medicine I could have. You're kind and sweet, and you always try your hardest. Don't feel down! I know you're going to be just fine."

"Thanks, Juniper… But I don't know if I can do this."

"If anyone could do it, it would be you. You're the bravest person I've ever met."

"Thank you… I'm glad you feel that way." I smiled.

"Miss Woods? You're needed in the courtroom." A member of the bailiff stood at the door.

"Oh… Goodbye, Apollo."

"Wait, Juniper! I'm going to find some evidence here to prove your innocence, I promise!"

"Apollo… It's ok. Don't worry about me."

"It's all I can do right now. You can count on me."

"I know I can, Apollo. Thank you."


	9. Aura

Huh. This one has a weird dynamic, but I kinda like it. It's a little darker, since Aura's not exactly the encouraging type (And I wrote this in the dark on a rainy day).

BTW, your petition for Pearls is being ignored lol. I'm sticking to Aura and Athena, so I can have a nice, 10 chapter story. :)

(Also, I have a special request. I have an intriguing idea for a new story, and I'd love to do it with some of you all. I was thinking a group of 3 or 4 would be fun. PM me if you're interested: All I can say is that you better be ok with writing Justicykes. I don't necessarily need amazing writers, but I need some creative minds.)

(O)

I walked through the Space Center as if it were my own home. It really was, in a way. Clay was my twin brother, Starbuck was our cool uncle, and right now, I needed to talk to my bratty older sister more than anything.

**Knock knock knock**

"Who is it?" She grunted.

"Apollo."

"Apollo?" The door opened to reveal the source of the disbelieving voice. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"It's rough being a lawyer," I admitted. Aura cringed, but softened.

"Lawyers are all scumbags. I'm glad there's someone who's willing to fight for the truth in there."

"Thanks."

"So, why'd you come?"

"… I need a place to stay."

"What happened to your apartment?"

"I… Ran away from the office. I knew Athena will come looking for me, so I didn't want to go back where she'd find me."

"The Princess works in your office?"

"Yeah."

"You must have a lot of willpower. Here, sit down." She held out a hand to a desk chair, and she sat on top of her robot fixing table. "I heard about the crazy case you had with Sol."

"It's funny… Me and Clay were both blown up by the same bomb, we lived, and then we both were the targets of murderers."

"I'm glad at least one of those murderers was incompetent," she laughed harshly. "Have any idea who the other one is?"

"…That's why I left. I need to find out the truth for myself, and nothing's going to get in the way of that."

"You think it was the Princess too. I can tell."

"I won't rule out the possibility." I tried to keep my head up, I tried to remain as emotionless as possible.

"Do you understand now why my only friends are robots? People betray you, people die… Robots can be controlled, and a robot can always be repaired."

"I guess."

"But there are good people in the world. You just have to search really hard. A lot of the time they die. Look at Clay, and Metis."

"I actually got hit in the head with a rock today," I replied sheepishly.

"If you died too, I'd have given up then and there with people."

"I'm glad I prevented your human relations from completely crumbling."

"I'm not." She looked wistfully out the window.

"I miss just having people around that I know care about me, without a doubt. I miss Clay and I watching awful movies together. I miss Athena challenging me to rock-paper-scissors to decide whether it's proper to say ladder or stepladder."

"Ladder," she interrupted, kicking a red box by her feet.

"Thank you! But I miss Mr. Wright giving me cryptic clues about how to solve a case, and laughing when I mess up. I miss Trucy doing dangerous magic tricks and making me fear for my life. I miss having people that can brighten up my world."

"Robots are easy to trust, but they don't do much to brighten anything."

"I want to be able to trust again," I spoke, listening to my voice echo throughout the dark room. Aura faced me.

"Trust is something that I've always wanted back. But not many people have really earned my trust. Apollo, don't give away your trust to the people who don't deserve it. You're better than the crap that the world will throw at you. Take your time to doubt them, size them up, do whatever you need to—make sure that you have absolutely no doubts so that you can really, fully trust them. And if you can't find any of those, you can hang out here with Hunk of Junk," she said with a smirk.

"So what if I don't know if I can trust someone, but I want to?"

"You're thinking of Princess? Here's what I'd do. I'd question her, I'd put everything on the line. I'd be absolutely positive that every word she says is the absolute truth, or I'd ask her questions until she cracked. Apollo, I think she's guilty. But you have to make that decision for yourself."

"Athena is my friend, and I believe in her…" My mind floated to Prosecutor Gavin and Daryan, and I shuddered—"but you'd better believe that if she's guilty, she'll get nothing less than the death sentence from me."

"You don't want her to be guilty."

"Nope," I retorted. Aura laughed.

"You're a good kid. No matter what goes on in the trial tomorrow, I'll be proud of you."

"I'm not taking the defense, though…"

"Exactly. You'll be taking the prosecution."

"Huh?!"

"Not literally. But you're going to make sure that every not guilty verdict is the absolute truth."

"Oh."

"I think your blade's getting a bit dull. You should get some sleep."

"I'm not going to sleep tonight."

"Or caffeine. You remember where the coffee maker is?"

"How could I forget?"


	10. Athena

Hey guys! I finally got a new laptop so I can be on here more :)

So, this story's almost over. That's almost as depressing as this story. But I'm starting a new series somewhat soon, so you can look forward to that.

An announcement: I'll be in Nashville TN for a week starting on June 30, so I won't be posting. Sorry. But if any of you lives around there, maybe we could meet up! That would be cool :)

Well, enjoy ;)

(O)

Well. I was pretty sure that if there was a worst friend award, I would've won it.

Clay was dead and I'd barely cried (I'd yelled and punched a few things, but I'd only cried for a few minutes), Trucy was kidnapped and I didn't bat an eye, I ran away from the Wright Anything Agency, I accused Athena of murder, fought with Mr. Wright, and pretty much abandoned Juniper. And Aura. And Starbuck.

I needed someone to be mad at me. I deserved to be punched in the stomach, yelled at... But everyone was so forgiving. I just wanted one person to get mad at me, to yell, to punch me in the stomach, because until someone did, that person would be me, the voices of my head telling me that I was useless for anything but hurting others.

I especially wanted Athena to punch me. She did about the opposite... She slapped me, and told me that I was a great friend.

I pretended to be happy, since everyone else was. I went out to Eldoon's with everyone, smiled, laughed... I kept telling myself that everything was fine.

As soon as I shut the door to my apartment, the façade vanished.

For the first time since I heard the news, I cried. Tears fell everywhere, and the empty feeling in my gut made me want to throw up. I collapsed on the floor, my hands pressing against the rough feel of the carpet.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine," I muttered, but I knew it wasn't true, and it probably would never be. My tears dripped onto the backs of my hands, and I tried to get myself under control. I crawled onto a chair and stuffed my face in a pillow, but the tears soaked through it quickly until it was completely damp.

I took a deep breath. _In... Out... In... Out... _

_You don't deserve to breathe._

I winced. I knew it wasn't true. If Clay was here, he would have been yelling at me for even thinking that.

That didn't stop my pillow from going from damp to soaked, though.

Saying that I was having suicidal thoughts would have been a bit much, but my will to live was definitely not as strong as it should have been. _Suicide isn't an answer. You're here to live for Clay. Your life isn't yours to throw away anymore. _I was mad at myself for being mad at myself.

Something about that made me laugh hysterically. My body shook with laughter as the tears continued to fall, and I buried my face into my pillow to muffle the noise. I was going insane, and I knew it.

It was then that my stomach decided that the mixture of Eldoon's and tears was too salty; I puked on my pillow, bile stinging my throat. I knew I needed to clean it up, but I couldn't stand up from the chair, so I settled with placing the pillow on the floor.

I cried for another few minutes, my head buried in my hands. I couldn't stop, no matter how hard I tried. I thought of all of the people that I'd hurt, all because the truth seemed to be too good to be real. I should have believed in Athena. I wasn't fit to be a lawyer, and I wasn't fit to be a friend.

"You're fine."

I looked up to see Athena standing in my doorway. I hadn't heard the door open, but I wasn't the one with super hearing. I opened my mouth but no words came out, and Athena came and kneeled by my side, glancing briefly at the puke pillow. Even with tears in them, my eyes caught the flash of concern that had filled her face. She picked up the pillow and placed it in the sink, spraying the room with the can of Febreeze that sat on the counter.

"Studies show that 75% of emotions are caused by smell," she commented sheepishly.

She was helping me when all I wanted her to do was scream at me until her lungs fell out.

"Wh... Why did you come here?"

"I'd be able to hear the sadness in your voice if I were deaf," she mused. "Grieving is worse when you're alone... Also, I... I had a question."

"What?"

"You were mad, too... Are you mad at me?"

"No. I'm mad at myself," I admitted. Athena looked at me curiously.

"Do you really believe that?"

"Huh? Yeah, I do. Why?"

"The discord... It didn't go down." She stared at me for a couple of seconds before she turned on Widget. "Your anger is overwhelming right now, see? But if I plug in that you're mad at yourself-" She typed a few things- "You're still mad at something. Or someone." She thought for a moment, and typed for a few minutes, confusion filling her face. "I tried plugging in the Phantom, I tried plugging in myself, I tried plugging in Clay... Nothing."

"Why would you plug in Clay?"

"Some people get angry at their loved one for dying. It's a strange- but common- psychological effect."

"So what am I mad at?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." She flicked her earring with one finger, lost in thought. "Can you testify about why you think you're mad at yourself?"

"I mean, I can. I'm mad because I should have believed in you. You did nothing that should have caused me to have any doubts, but I demanded that you be prosecuted for the death of my friend. I stood up there and I threw away everything."

"The anger was overwhelming the entire time... But in that last statement, your sadness... Or fear... Became overwhelming, too. Why do you say that you threw away everything?"

"I wasn't myself up there."

"Who were you?" She asked. I thought for a moment.

"Evidence is everything," I gasped.

"Hmm?"

"I said that, didn't I?"

"Yeah."

"...I was Kristoph." Athena covered her ears. "I'm sorry! Did I say something?"

"I... That was a lot of anger," she replied with a wince. "Who... Who is Kristoph?"

"He was my mentor... Before I ever met Mr. Wright. I studied under him for a little under a year."

"Why isn't he your mentor anymore?"

"He's on death row... For killing Trucy's father." Athena gasped.

"No way!"

"He's also the reason that Mr. Wright lost his badge."

"...I think I get it."

"Get what?"

"You're angry at him right now. It's his fault that you couldn't trust me, isn't it? Because you trusted him once, and he destroyed that."

"I guess that's true..."

"And then you started to become more like him," she stated, almost coldly. I cringed.

"I'm not Kristoph."

"Which is why you were terrified and angry that he managed to sneak into you, even if it was only for a minute."

"How did I let that happen?!" I shouted. "He was gone. I beat him already."

"This is going to sound strange. Like, really weird."

"Trucy was my partner for a year. Fire away."

"When you hold a grudge, you hold a person close to you. You let their feelings determine your feelings, you constantly want to be aware of their condition... It's like love, in a weird way, but completely different. As long as you despise him, you're inviting him into your life to chain you down. It's been a year, Apollo, and he still has you chained down. This is going to sound crazy, but the only way that you'll ever be free from him is if you forgive him."

"What does that even mean?! I always hear people say that, but nobody ever really said what it meant. It was some magical cure-all where you forget how a person hurt you and you treat them nicely, but I don't know how!" I looked at her. "How did you talk to the Phantom like you did today? He killed your mom, and you were nice to him. You told him that there were people worth trusting, and that he was lovable. How can you do that?"

"Some people think that people can't change. Some people think they can. I've learned that every person has their own perspective, and we judge based on what comes to light. I believed that deep down, there was a person inside of him, one who longed for the same things we longed for- affection, trust, hope... He just hid his emotions. You have to look at what a person could be if you want to forgive them. And forgiving someone doesn't always mean that you have to love them... It just means that you don't hate them. What do you wish would happen to Kristoph?"

"I kinda want his execution to hurry up, to be completely honest," I replied sheepishly.

"As long as you want the worst for him, he's going to be in your head. It feels unnatural. He deserves to be hated for what he's done. But you know, he wants you to hate him. Being nice to him would be the most horrible, vicious thing you'll ever do to him."

There was a pause.

"It means that you've finally beaten him."

"I... I don't want to hate him anymore." I felt a shudder go up my spine, and I felt something like freedom. Athena smiled.

"See? You aren't Kristoph. You're way more amazing than him. You search for the truth, and you find it. You're an incredible friend, and you're always there for me when I'm feeling down. And you're willing to sacrifice anything to find the truth, while he's willing to sacrifice anything to hide it. Apollo... Everyone's happy now, and it's all because of you."

_Everyone's happy... Because of me? _

"Thanks, Athena." I smiled wistfully, looking past her to a picture of Clay that was sitting on a desk. She turned to look at it.

"I'm not expecting you to be happy. You don't have to be fine right now. But you do need to know that you're never alone, and there are still so many people who care about you." I looked into her sincere blue eyes, which were staring at me with a friendly affection that I hadn't seen since Clay's death. I felt a tear escape my eye, and I bit my lip. She wrapped her arms around me lightly, pulling me into a hug, and my tears began pouring out again, soaking the cloth covering her shoulder.

"You're fine, Apollo," she murmured.

Suddenly, I could believe it.


End file.
